This invention relates to high-voltage fuses, and more particularly to such fuses having plug terminals closing the ends of the casing thereof and being conductively interconnected by fusible element means, e.g. silver ribbons. There are several ways of establishing conductive interconnections of the kind under consideration. A preferred prior art way of solving the problem is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,611,239; 10/05/71 to Frederick J. Kozacka for HIGH-VOLTAGE FUSE HAVING INNER CORE AND OUTER SHELL FUSE LINKS. As shown in the above patent, the ends of the fusible elements or fuse links are clamped by means of the heads of screws against the axially inner end surfaces of the plug terminals, and the gaps formed between the aforementioned screw heads and the axially inner end surfaces of the plug terminals are filled with soft solder. These soft solder joints perform the dual function of preventing the clamping screws from getting loose, and of minimizing the contact resistance between the fusible elements and the plug terminals. One limitation of the above structure consists in the need of providing an internal thread in each bore intended to receive a fuse-link-connecting screw. As long as the number of fusible elements, or fuse links, that are connected in parallel between the plug terminals of a high-voltage fuse is small, the bore tapping operations are an undesirable, though still acceptable increase in the cost of production. The larger the number of fusible elements connected in parallel between the plug terminals of a high-voltage fuse, the higher the increase in production cost due to the need of performing a large number of tapping operations.
It is, therefore, one object of this invention to provide electric fuses having terminal plugs which fuses do not require tapping or screw-threading operations at the interfaces between the fusible elements and the plug terminals thereof.
Another object of this invention is to provide high-voltage fuses including simple spring means for maintaining pressure between the plug terminals and the fusible elements while both are conductively interconnected by solder joints.
A further object of this invention is to provide fuses which lend themselves particularly well to, and allow to simplify, the fuse assembly process disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,848,214; 11/12/74 to Erwin Salzer for METHOD OF ASSEMBLING ELECTRIC HIGH-VOLTAGE FUSES AND SUBASSEMBLY THEREFOR.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from what follows.